We often hear that Sheffield is a city of seven hills and five rivers …but what do those rivers actually mean to us? What have they witnessed? What lives within them? And what stories might they tell if we stopped to listen?
Over the last few months, RivelinCo have been thinking about our rivers and waterways in lots of different ways, including our giant fish outdoor artwork inspired by the return of salmon to Sheffield rivers and beginning to explore the River Don with residents at Winn Gardens.
Our Young Creatives have been part of this watery exploration too. Working with artists Dan Jones and Natasha Holmes, the group helped to create scales and costumes for Dans giant litter-picking fish artwork, which is touring North Sheffield this Summer, contributing their own artwork and character ideas for the project.
The group also worked with artist Krishna Alageswaran, getting their hands muddy and creating their own clay fishscapes. Taking inspiration from the return of salmon to the Don and the wildlife living beneath the surface of our local waterways, they experimented with shape, texture and character to create a patterned claywork.
Our explorations also took us outside to Holme Lane Community Garden, beside the River Loxley. We spent time looking, listening and noticing what was around us, before using the river and surrounding landscape as a starting point for writing, and also doing some painting with water (guns!)
The group gathered their different words, images and observations together to create a collaborative poem, imagining the river as something that watches, remembers and carries traces of everything that passes through it:
Cough, Cough, Cough
Why do you drink me?
Bubbles emerging to the surface.
Emitting forgotten memories, that were carelessly chucked into the grey and blue.
Swirling abyss. Why?
I say hello to every person who is nice to me.
Have you ever heard someone scream with no lungs?
Flowing through fields, grasslands, thick jungle.
I see them having the times of their lives.
Drinking, swimming.
The river has seen it all.
Old animals, grasses, wildlife.
Look – a lost balloon.
Working with Youth Associate Charlotte Tupper, Young Creatives also explored lino printing, creating their own river-inspired designs and learning how to carve, ink and print their images.
The rivers of Sheffield can sometimes become part of the background of our city, but they are constantly moving through it – carrying wildlife, histories and the traces of the people and places along their banks. Through these sessions, Young Creatives had the chance to look a bit closer.
A huge thank you to artists Dan, Tash, Krishna and Charlotte for sharing their practices, ideas and skills with the group, and to our Young Creatives for their efforts in making, experimenting and exploring
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